Traffic flows again on Rockford's Morgan Street Bridge

Editor's note: Two individuals were misidentified in the photo. The photo caption has been updated to correct the information.

ROCKFORD — A morning ceremony at City Hall, a ribbon cutting on the new bridge with Gov. Pat Quinn after lunch and at about 1 p.m. Tuesday, the completely rebuilt Morgan Street Bridge was back in business.

One of the first vehicles across the new span was a Rockford firetruck, a symbolic start for the new bridge because firetrucks weren't allowed on the old deteriorating span for several years before it closed in August 2011. In fact, trucks of any kind were banned for the last several years the old bridge was open.

Tuesday's opening comes about three or four months early for the project. The original plans when construction began in August 2011 had a completion date of spring 2014.

The entire Morgan Street Bridge project had a price tag of $40 million, which included road projects on each side of the river and featured a new roundabout at the intersection of Seminary Street and College Avenue.